Main character — NT

Main character — Opera Omnia

Main character — Duodecim

Accomplishments — Profile

Accomplishments — Pane

EXD GUIDE
WHAT IS AN EXDEATH?
Want to play EXD? At high level, I'd say about 8 members of the Dissidia012 cast give Exdeath a very hard time.
EXD's character archetype (Entropic Adversary) is to have the opponent engage him to win. This boils down to punishing the opponent to win. He has Maelstrom as a move to punish those who do not engage. However, only 3 characters in this game cannot handle it without Aerith’s Planet Protector: Yuna, Kuja, and Shantotto. EXD is unique in that players have to change their play style in order to play and fight him.
EXD is the ultimate cardcounter. With his ability to build assist quickly, it becomes a part of his character. He is the fastest assist builder in the game. EXD is always looking at his opponent and what the opponent is doing to either block or punish. His assist, which is selected specifically for the matchup, should always be looking to punish the opponent’s moves.
Beware of characters who chase. It is a primary way to build EX. EXD is not good to punish empty chases.
In especially calculated matchups, being in good reach of zones where cores spawn is a good idea.
Any unblockable moves have a HIGH chance to be exploited against EXD at times down the line. It helps to remember these attacks even outside of EXD, because they are something to be reckoned with. But with EXD, these attacks matter very much, and you need to know them.
Many characters cannot block Mael + Planet Protector reliably, but you should know which characters are capable of easily doing so.
List of "Special" or unblockable BRV:
Terra: Graviga
Laguna: Sticky Bomb (explosion)
Emperor: Thunder Crest
Golbez: Rising Wave (Far)
Exdeath: Black Hole
Ultimecia: Charged Knight's Arrow (idle)
Kuja: Remote Flare
List of "Special" or unblockable HP:
Terra: Flood, Ultima
Zidane: Shift Break (water only)
Garland: Earthquake (rocks only)
Emperor: Starfall, Dreary Cell
Exdeath: Grand Cross (normal/counter)
Kefka: Hyperdrive
___________
EXD has very little pressure game outside of Aerith's Holy, Maelstrom, Planet Protector+Maelstrom, and Black Hole pressure.
Black Hole is can be assist punished if the opponent has good reaction time.
Reverse Polarity is especially useful when near a wall or roof.
Sword Dance is easily dodged and easily punished with fast pokes. Yuna can punish this.
Vaccum Wave offers little to no levity, but is useful against Ultimecia a bit, it can be used to bait Jecht’s toes.
Hurricane is easily blocked, but is useful against Ultimecia and Laguna and even Jecht in heated matchups
After one of Exdeath's guard attacks, you can:
CIRCLE NEUTRAL - Hurricane
CIRCLE Towards Opponent + - Sword Dance (Can be used twice, 4 in EX Mode.
CIRCLE Away from Opponent + - Vacuum Wave (Can be used twice, 4 in EX Mode.
SQUARE NEUTRAL - Almagest
SQUARE Away from Opponent + - Grand Cross
TECHNICAL NOTES
PRECISION DODGE
Dodging at the right time gives you invincibility frames till the end of the dodge animation, you can tell you did it when your character is glowing a gold color.
Note how Jecht can dodge into an attack like Sudden Cruelty and use Jecht Block to block it. Exdeath can do this with Turn Guard. However, there is 1 frame where Omniblock is starting up, and generally, Omniblock cannot do this. A steady hand can save your life.
PRECISION BLOCK
Exdeath gains high priority normal blocks with this ability while blodging. A precision block is activated within 1 frame of it starting. Every blodge done for every character is a constitutes a precision block. This may be helpful to some in certain matchups. Using an HP blodge to score a reflect off of an attack like Heel Crush or WWF can be risky if the opponent has near-death status and you blodge with HPs or BRVs.
PLAYPLAN
As Exdeath, you want to be scary, calculated and collected. This means being patient. This means being varied. You are a cardcounter. You can time your engagements around the appearances of excores. You can realize sometimes, "it sure has been a long time since a core appeared..." and move to position yourself optimally to reach the core, wherever it may be.
As a character that wins by blocking, you want to get into their head. Play many different people. Chess masters have seen their battles play out many times before them.
Reaction time comes into play as well. So build up your muscle memory and reactions by playing.
Matchups that rely solely on EXD's blocking to win are matchups that involve what I call EXD Grit Matchups.
TECHNIKS
ASSIST GAME
MATCHUPS

Newer players may need to run through some clips twice, as I assume you have basic knowledge of various mechanics I go over (Ex: Crystal spawn in 30 secs) But it should hopefully be enjoyable and informative to players of all levels. In crystal now and I still use this in all of my matches.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tGvp9tEJXQ

Vayne really caught me by surprise, I know a lot of people were expecting Caius. For better or for worse, here's a deconstruction of how is gameplay will be, how he will commonly be played, and how you can counter his kit. I'm looking forward to the DLC, and if you aren't already, then hopefully in the soon future!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZerOGw1GgM

Terra's Guide to Lightning as you know her
Lightning is a diverse character with a lot of options and safe Brave attacks. Her assist building is top end with thunder, and the advanced techniques surrounding the move, as well as watera and blizzara. she's very safe in ravager and hard to punish. Watera (who shall henceforth be known as bob) is a great offensive and defensive tool, used to block projectiles, zone enemies, pressure opponents and force favorable situations. Bob also can save you too. Bob's also a traitor. Thanks bob.
Pros:
Strong braves
Some of the best EX gen
Great punish tools
Strong pressure game
Safe
Strong EX burst
Cura to increase brave
Combos well with all meta assists
One hit HP move
Difficult to block
Double aerith combo
Army of one reflects medium priority projectiles and staggers guard
+1 attack in commando
Cons
Low Damage without damage build
Easily assist punished
Unreliable HPs outside combos and blocks
Struggles against campy characters
Solo ravager HP combos are unreliable
Can't cover dodges
No reliable ground poke
Due to priority on air game, HP link is situational at best.
I. Why play lightning?
Other than the fact that Lightning is top tier, and good at countering several high tier matchups or going even with them, Let me tell you why Lightning is so amazing. Lightning is a character with so many tools and options in just ONE of her three paradigms that it can be easy to forget those options if you aren't a season Light player. She has a tool for almost any situation. Her braves are strong, watera, and blizzara both comboing into other attacks (more on that later), thunder being one of the best braves in the game utility wise, and army of one staggering and initiating chase for those sweet, sweet Aerith combos. Bob will also sometimes save your life, be it killing an enemy assist, hitting an enemy out of a crucial attack, or even sometimes hitting YOU out of crucial attacks. Very few characters have that kind of safety net, and the ones that do tend to be a high tier, and very hard for melee only characters to approach safely.
Medic as a paradigm is generally untouched, but Cura is a great brave to have equipped if you need to avoid getting broken, or generally just don't want to chase after your opponent after knocking them away. Regaining brave for basically nothing is a huge boon to have in those really campy match ups like emperor or exdeath.
Commando as a paradigm is also rarely touched, and is touched for the purpose of comboing or getting extra damage through it's +1 attack while in commando, great for finishing off those combos with a slightly bigger bang. Another use for commando is breaks, when you block an opponent you can swap to commando and deliver them your almighty smite straight into the ground where the dirt belongs. Bonus points because you can get a combo off of it for even more smitey justice! or a thundefall. that works to I guess. All in all Commando's main use is that crispy damage, and those spicy combos.
Overall Lightning as a lot of tools to keep her safe and punish the fools that would call her foe. If you like a character that's easy to pick up and go, but hard to master all her subtle nuances, Lightning's for you!
as far as meter gain goes, Lightning excells. She builds assist incredibly fast, and has some of the best EX generation in the game, meaning that she's very capable of putting static pressure on her foes and forcing them to stay docile, for fear of the crispy EXR. Her EXR game is fairly weak in reality, but the best combo seems to be double smite into thunderfall, which can combo into assist. but works best at low ground. that being said her EX burst is incredible, doing a lot of damage and being fairly easy to pull off, you can break a lot of players at around 600 brave running the damage oriented build.
Her HP game is fairly weak. Your best chance of getting HP hits are assists. Barring that, blocks into crushing blow are your second best option, and finally, inconsistent ravager combos into thunderfall, or catching a person blocking watera with thunderfall make for good options.
Lets just talk about Thunderfall real fast. Thunderfall is a tool that you'll see divided amongst great lightnings and bad lightnings. Great lightnings seldom use the attack but when they do it's going to punish you hard. It punishes so many things, but is in turn easy to punish. A great lightning will punish your Lord of Arms with it, Your air flares with it (on prediction, never reaction), your thunderfalls with it! Yes, thunderfall punishes itself! GLORIOUS. Thunderfall is a great punish move, but using it in neutral comes with very significant risk, as many characters can punish it in turn with their own HPs if you miss. It's also assist punishable, so there's that. still an invaluable tool in select matchups, and firion/emperor's worst nightmare.
A good way to think of Thunderfall is a High priority blizzara with the added benefit of punishing ground dodges. This move is powerful, but use it wisely, or it will be your downfall.
II. Lightning's slower than it looks
Fastest
0 D.Chaos/F.Chaos (EX mode)
1.5 Tidus (EX mode)
2 Prishe (EX mode)
2.5 D.Chaos/F.Chaos > Onion Knight
4 Tifa = Zidane = Tidus (Normal) = Gabranth (EX mode)
5 Cecil (Paladin) = Squall = Jecht = Prishe (Normal)
6 WoL = Bartz = Shantotto = Vaan = Lightning
7 Golbez > Cloud = Yuna > Kuja
8 Emperor > Firion = Kain
9 CoD > Cecil (Dark Knight) = Sephiroth = Laguna
10.5 Garland = Gilgamesh > Terra
11.5 Kefka
12 Gabranth
13.5 Ultimecia
?? Exdeath
Slowest
This is a WALKING SPEED chart. She pairs up similarly, but with minor differences in other aspects of speed.
Note that lightning's dash speed is the fastest outside of EX mode due to her exclusive. Good to deal with really fast characters. Thanks Wheelz for the information.
According to the speed charts, Lightning is actually somewhere in the middle of the pack. Slower than a lot of popular characters, but not so much slower that she can't keep up the pace with them when she really needs to. This is fine for us because when it comes right down to it we don't care if we're in their face or not. We have tools for everything.
III. My blade will fix this - Tools of the trade
Commando Tools
Ground
Blitz
Blitzs is a melee mid priority move that has lightning dashing forward in an AoE around her, and firing a shot back at the opponent when she passes through. Blitz hits two times and wall rushes for decent damage, and can be used to catch an opponent off guard at the start or whenever you drop to the ground. I highly recommend equipping blitz for it's utility, though it wont be used very often.
Launch
Launch is a three hit Slashing attack that is melee low and wall rushes. It's generally hard to land due to it having about the same range as smite, and similarly slow startup time, but when it does land it's better to combo into it's HP link, Flourish of steel than actually finish out the attack. Keep launch equipped for those times when you want to be crispy, but don't expect it to land very often.
Ruinga
a fairly easy to block Ranged low attack that creates a small explosion that's ranged mid. It's easy to block before it explodes, but should it explode and hit your opponent, it launches them into the air. Not very useful, but decide for yourself if you want it or not.
Air
Smite
Smite is your all purpose damage tool. And by all purpose i mean it only serves a single purpose. Lightning swings her sword twice, and on hit will "smite" the enemy back to the ground. use it on block or in combo's to do brave damage and wall rush, strong contender for EXR combos. Don't throw it out often in neutral unless you're looking to punish something.
Blaze rush
Lightning fires three shots from her gun before tackling the opponent head on. Not a very useful skill but can be mixed in to neutral for some extra damage, good at catching dodges when you're in commando. Keep it equipped, but don't expect it to be your BnB
Ruin
A weaker version of Ruinga but you can launch three of them now. Initiates chase, so that's cool I guess.
Ravager tools
Ground
Fire
Launches three fire balls, that start slow but pick up speed rapidly. Decent for pressure when inside thundaga, but generally easy to block.
Aerora
Aerora is cool. It launches a single fast moving projectile that deals multiple hits and knocks enemies into the air. Can combo into assist for bonus points, but not much else here. Fairly useful attack to catch landing lag and punish dodges.
Thundaga
All purpose electrical shield. Protects you from most melee and ranged attacks baring any HPs, but even if they connect, the chance of them getting broken by a bolt is high. Thundaga is great to sit inside and throw out your ranged HP, or fire, or aerora. It's really hard for some characters to pressure a lightning in her shield of insanity.
Army of One (ground version)
Don't bother with this multi hitting melee mid ability. The air version is used more, and having the ground version over fire or aerora is silly, you're not on the ground to be aggressive. Turtle more.
Air
Watera
Good ol' bob. Bob is my long time friend. Bob is your long time friend. Bob is a bad friend. If you've ever liked being chased by a slow moving man down a subway train station out of fear that when he reaches you he's just going to explode and launch you into the ever loving arms of Sir manthong the ball fondler, You've probably met bob before. Bob is a slow moving melee mid projectile that persists through damage (meaning if you hit light it doesnt go away). Bob is a cornerstone in lights gameplay, You block it she can punish, you dodge it she can punish, you get hit by it she can combo. Bob is great pressure because other than reflecting it with melee highs she has a tool for dealing with it.
Also there can be two bobs. Bob's twin brother came to town because you reflected bob. Now Bobs twin brother is here, and I've got bob back on track, so have fun dealing with the dynamic duo of terror!
Use bob as you see fit. Use him for pressure, use him for combos (but mostly pressure), use him and his twin brother for shenanigans (but mostly pressure.) bob is a consistent pressure tool that can be used offensively, or defensively to keep characters from getting to you, block low ranged projectiles, and be generally a nuisance to your foe. Bob can combo into thunderfall, and at certain ranges thunder as well. Bob also can combo into blizzara if you predict the hit. Bob is truly a cornerstone in our gameplay. Just be careful what you say to bob. Bobs a spiteful bastard and he likes to attack his mean friends.
Bob can also save you, or your enemy, so be mindful of his positioning. If you're being hit by an assist and bob is right by you, it might be worth letting bob come to the party. He's indiscriminate about who he blows up on, and his original target doesn't have to be the end result. Even an enemy bob can save you, as he can knock YOU out of combos too! sometimes he'll interrupt you though, so be careful. Bob's never been good at waiting his turn.
thunder
Our bread and butter, Thunder. Lightning almost instantly fires a thunderbolt out in front of her, and if it hits she can soot two more and lead into chase. Perfect for assist combos. Perfect for building assist. Huge ammounts of EX generation. Super safe, reliable, and unpunishable on block. Nearly perfect. Use it to hit enemies. Use it to hit air. Use it to not hit enemies. Use it to make enemies wish lightning was balanced.
Thunder is an impressive ability that can be used for a multitude of different things. It hits enemies above you with the tip, and has really good cooldown, allowing you to dodge almost immediately after using it, or even use another. There's some advanced tech we'll discuss further down the guide that pertains to this ability as well.
Blizzara
Blizzara is a great tool to use. Assist punishable, but strong. Blizzara pulls enemies close, and if they're caught in it's AoE they take two hits of damage and are flung back. The second hit always comes out regardless of if the first hits, and can still hit the opponent in this case.
Use Blizzara to interrupt abilities such as Genesis rock (be below him) or to dodge punish in the air. It can't reliably combo into much, and only assist combos on a wall or ceiling, but it's a great pressure tool.
We'll talk about some advanced tech pertaining to timing and placement of blizzara and the effects on what you can do with it further down in the guide.
Army of One
We swap Blizzara out for Army of One in matchups that favor it more. Melee mid priority which means it reflects stuff like your own watera, and staggers brave attacks, This move is great. It dodge punishes, it block punishes, it punishes poorly placed braves, and even on stagger it continues the full chain of attacks. Can be combo'ed into aerith, and at the ceiling (and with the adamant chains set) can be dodge canceled to combo into thunder. Very useful tool but easy to punish as well.
We'll talk about the magic link glitch and what it means for Army of One later on in the guide.
Medic
I'm going to do something a bit different with this paradigm, as it's very different in terms of use than the others are, I will only be discussing Cura.
Cura is the only medic ability you'll ever equip. It's just a better version of cure, time it properly get brave. useful when you've knocked opponents away, or when you're low and want to avoid that break. Not much to this paradigm or this ability. Just use it wisely.
HP attacks
Ground
Razor Gale
The big purple circle that doesn't even look natural. Razor gale is a single hit HP attack, where lightning throws out a large projectile with decent tracking. Good to toss out for pressure when in your thundaga.
Lightning strike
Great attack to hit dash ins with. Lightning lets out a field of lightning which does brave damage and then another set for the HP. When you're on the ground this can be a good choice if they're being to aggressive.
flourish of steel
HP link from launch. use it every time you land launch, which isn't often.
Air
Crushing blow
Another one hit HP attack, Assist punishable but very reliable to catch dodges, and combos into aerith if you know you're going to hit. Works for double aerith HP combos. Use this on block for free damage, and combo into aerith or Kuja.
ThunderFall
I love this move a little TO much. Don't spam this easily assist punishable beast, but keep it in the wings for punishing long HPs, catching dodges, and catching people who block your watera. Silly fools, they think Bob would betray me? (he would). It also combos off of watera, and blizzara, but we'll talk about that a little bit later.
III. Enjoy the view! - Lightning gear and what it means to you
Lightning doesn't have a lot of Viable options for her sets. She either runs EX heavy with damage, EX heavy with depletion, or core heavy. Side by side is not included in any of my sets.
1. The EX depletion set
You run this set to get as much EX and deplete as much as you can. The general plan for this set is high booster level with dismay shock and battle hammer, your usual EX gear including glutton and tenacious attacker, heavens cloud and the lufienian set of your choice dependent on Matchup. Use this set when you don't want them to get EX, or when you need to keep their assist down. They'll have to switch out on every HP hit or suffer the consequences!
2. The EX Damage set
This is my preferred set of choice. You run the usual EX gear with your lufenian set, and weasel in some damage accessories to make up for your lack of damage. Take lufienan gear that ups your attack as much as you can, and throw in the rings to make this set a force to be reckoned with. You can skip tenacious attacker and glutton, as the preferred assist for this set is aerith, meaning you'll be initiating plenty of chase.
3. The core build set
Strengthen that core! No really, increase core spawn rates and what you get from them. Abuse campers by out camping.
IIII. You can't do it alone! - assist guide for the assistance impaired
Lightning works well with most assists due to the way her braves work, and her HPs work, but for simplicity we will only be talking about two, and those two will be Kuja, and Aerith. Jecht is a viable alternative for depleting EX as rapidly as possible, and combos in much the same way as Kuja does, but with ground rushes. As such we will not be discussing Jecht, as I find him to be inferior to Kuja in almost every way but damage and depletion.
Kuja
We'll talk about the combo king first. Kuja has a lot more damage potential than Aerith (obvious) and combo potential than aerith (also obvious) but lacks safety. Kuja combos usually include the first two hits of smite, into thunderfall.
If you manage to land a ground rush (via thunderfall or smite) ground assists include the entire Smite combo into thunderfall for added damage. Kuja depletes EX and does damage which is really his only boon over aerith, as aerith can combo off anything he can and more.
You can however, use the force symphony assist from Thunder to bypass two bars of assist, which will lead into a chase.
The worst part about running Kuja is how hard he is to protect. Lightning doesn't really have a tool that can protect him in the same way that squall or cloud does, he can be very hard to protect and that makes him a hard choice. Kuja is your alternative to Aerith in sets where you want to deal EX depletion, but you should only pick him when neccessary.
Aerith
I would call aerith the queen of mean if she wasn't so damn nice. Aerith's difficult to lock, easy to use, a magic based assist (meaning two bar assist change wont lock her), and allows for EX absorbtion through chase combos. What this means for lightning is that she can combo off of all of her air normals except for blizzara (blaze rush and smite wall rush only, watera difficult), into one of the safest assists in the game, and on many of those combos, gather up all that crispy EX force. No tenacious or glutton needed!
Aerith is a very strong assist for lightning because she compliments her oppressive playstyle by saying "you'll never lock me, I'll lock you first"
Lightning also has a double aerith combo in crushing blow > crushing blow. This means that a full combo might look like, Smite > aerith assist > crushing blow > aerith assist > thunderfall. I don't have to tell you how amazing that is. We've all fought zidaerith, being his mini me is no easy feat.
Aerith' overall compliments lightning's playstyle by allowing her to get crispy EX force without effort, and keeping her on the offensive without risking an assist lock. She compliments her defense just fine as well.
The downside to Aerith is that her ground assist is generally useless. Just a heal, it does nothing to benefit you that you can't do yourself, and means you can't combo into assists from the ground. Rip Aerora.
her level two assists are great tools as well, though situational. Planet protector can be used to save you from a big hit if you know it's coming, and holy can be a pain for some characters to deal with while they still need to deal with you. Generally I don't use them but they have a use.
Yuna
Someone actually brought up a good point about this assist. Yuna is a great punish assist vs matchups like firion, and is worth taking over Aerith in these matchups. She's basically an inferior Aerith in most MUs, but has the ability to punish, which makes her more useful in matchups where assist punish can come in handy. Combo with thunderfall by dashing in while she does her attack.
Thanks to VII for the info.
IV. Cocoon - Stage break down
Due to the current competitive scene I will ONLY be covering stages that are allowed in competitive play.
WoD
Rating: 3.5/5
Most Flat stages without much in them are going to be rated 4/5. Lightning prefers these medium sized stages where she can setup her game and put pressure on at the same time. WoD is a bit larger, but serves similar purpose. She might struggle more against campy characters due to the stage size, So this is only a 3.5/5 for the time being, but she definitely doesn't suffer to hard.
Top Floor
Rating: 5/5
This is my preferred stage to take lightning,to, It's just big enough for her to set up but small enough that it makes campy characters easier to chase down. Lightning likes these mid sized stages because they offer her the ability to do as she pleases in the MU's she can, while giving her room to be campy vs campers, and offensive vs others.
Sky Fortress Bahamut
Rating: 4/5
I personally love this map, I think it's awesome, but the rails make it a bit more of a pain for lightning to catch certain campy characters, and the banish traps can mess up smite if you happen to land it. Usually not a big deal, still an awesome stage for her, Worth going to if they ban top floor,
Order's Sanctuary
Rating: 3.5/5
Pretty average wide stage. Its not bad for lightning but not particularly amazing either. Games might go in others favor, due to stage size and the ability to run, so it's 3.5/5
Old Chaos Shrine
Rating: 3/5
I don't like this stage for lightning at all, It's super campy until you destroy the ceiling, and even then it can be campy. Getting to EX cores is just a chore and the map is made in such a way that at some point the gigantic hole in the center keeps your thunderfalls and smites from ground rushing, which wouldn't be such a problem, but it's also a wide stage. Your best option in this stage is to run with aerith assist and just do the Crushing blow combos unless you get close to a wall. Be prepared to be camped out on this stage.
Lunar Subterrain
rating: 4/5
Fairly decent stage, but the ridges hurt Kuja assist. The stage is low ceiling so thunderfall almost always rushes, it's long but short so you may get camped a little, but it's still a reasonable stage to go to, and can be quite fun too.
Kefka's Tower
rating: 2.5/5
Don't get me wrong this stage isn't all that bad. I just rate it lower because a lot of campy characters, and even aggressive characters, make this stage their *****. Lightning has the tools she needs to use this stage to her benefit, but others have way better tools. don't CP this stage, they'll just pick someone who can abuse the small area.
Planet's Core
rating: 3/5
This stage is weird. You can land most stuff as a wall rush, but otherwise it has banish traps at the bottom. Not a lot of room to ground camp so it can be a viable counter to some characters who cant put up with it, but I reserve it as a counter stage mostly.
Crystal World
Rating: 3.5/5
another big stage with minimal ground, but this one is more suited to lightnings talents with a way better chance of wall rushing and ground rushing. Counter ground based characters here.
Edge of Madness
rating: 4/5
this stage is a special snowflake. It's super small, but it doesn't give huge benefits to campy characters, in fact it's tall enough that I can still avoid most stuff just fine. This stage is a 1/5 in select MUs but I'll leave it at 4/5 for the time being.
V.Who are you watching? - Advanced tech
In this section we'll be covering some advanced combos and tech that you an use to take your lightning to the next level.
This tech will include stuff as simple as movement tech, to as difficult as comboing off of blizzara and anything inbetween.
1. Tech pertaining to thunder or various aplication
Free fall thunders.
Free fall thunder is a spacing technique which is done by pressing any direction of movement after using thunder. This will put lightning into a free fall state almost instantly after the cooldown on thunder, allowing her to drop down and hit a target, or avoid a punish. This is especially useful in the firion matchup to avoid straightarrow, and as a general spacing technique to get yourself where you want to be for your next attack. This technique's application can make the difference between a good lightning and a great lightning.
This technique is important for a lot of reasons beyond positioning. It builds assist as the second fastest method of assist building in the game (to my knowledge) so learn to use it wisely!
Mixing up free fall thunder is important. Sometimes it's better not to free fall it. During many of my sets I've discovered that doubling up on thunder, while not getting my assist, might save me from a dash in, or blocking even. Free fall thunder is pressurable, but remember how many tools you have and use them to your advantage to win the game vs pressure!
Thunder circe dodge
Circle dodges aren't exactly advanced tech, but they seem to be ignored by a vast majority of the player base. Circle dodging includes rotating the analog stick very quickly while dodging, instead of holding a direction. There are two affects to this depending on how fast or far you rotate the stick. First, lightning will do a half circle dodge, where she moves forward in an arc. This technique is good for punishing wiffs on stuff such as shield of light, or delta attack, from behind, Or getting out of the range of an Air circle to punish it.
The second application of circle dodges is a full circle dodge. This dodge will very quickly return you to the original place of the dodge, while still in I frames. This technique can mean the difference between punishing a poke and not punishing a poke, and I suggest learning how to use it.
Thunder blocks
Thunder has an incredibly short cooldown. Like, its so short that you can almost never be punished for using it in neutral unless they're dashing at you and they manage to push you out of it and hit you with a poke. You can do anything out of thunder, even free fall, so why not block? Thunder blocking could mean you get a free HP when they try to match you in neutral! They can't match you in neutral. Nothing is as fast as lightning. We strike in an instant and then we're gone. Probably to build assist.
Double Thunder
Less advanced tech, more humorous shenanigan, Enemies who block your thunder beware a second thunder! Yes. Thunder is so safe on block you can punish the block with thunder. If they try to save their pitiful selves with a poke attack, well, to bad for them. even stops nightglow in it's tracks. (may not work against abilities like turbo hit, may not work on squall. doesn't work against magic absorb abilities such as Air Circle) Use caution when trying this. sometimes you can still be punished.
2. Tech Pertaining to thunderfall
Going Commando
No really, we are. Always followup your assist chases with a commando enhanced thunderfall. It seems basic but that swap can be hard for a new player to remember. It does one extra point of damage on every hit, and we're all about that min max here.
Crispy Punishes
As I mentioned earlier, Thunderfall punishes all manner of attacks from emperor's flares (on prediction) to Firion's lord of arms (on reaction). Did you know Thunderfall also punishes dodges? it does. It does everything but keep lightning safe from the clutches of deadly assists. Learn what you can and cant punish with this beast. master it's range, and people will be scared to throw out their long attacks, For fear that you did indeed, bring the thunder.
3. Tech pertaining to magic glitches
Did you know you can magic glitch Army of One?
Try it. It's not generally useful, but if you hit with our dear friend bob while in the process of using army of one, you can get a very slight range increase at the cost of damage, against walls and ceiling. This tech can be useful for cinching out that aerith assist, but is generally less useful when using Kuja as you could just combo off watera on reaction. Try it some time, Learn the range, and it might benefit you.
4. Tech pertaining to specific range combos
ENJOY THE VIEW
This is hard to pull off, but you can combo thunderfall off of both watera AND blizzara! Cool huh? Well it's not that easy. First, for watera, you have to use it right as they get hit meaning it's the ultimate prediction. Luckily if they dodge or block you can still catch them but it doesn't look nearly as cool.
It gets hard at blizzara. Blizzara is a strange combo tool, because usually it doesn't combo at all, and trying to practice these you might think "but Terraaaaaa, Blizzara can't combo at all!"
THATS WHERE YOU'RE WRONG GET BACK IN THE DOJO.
Blizzara will combo into thunderfall only if you've already dodged before it hits. That is to say the suction caught someone and you can use blizzara just as the last hit goes off. Otherwise it won't land. It's one of the most position based combos I've encountered because of the requirement for this delayed hit and the range of thunderfall.
HI! HUH ! HYAH!
Blizzara also combos into thunder for those spicy assist combos! They always look good, and everyone wonders how you did them! Well I'll tell you how!
Blizzara is very much a range based ability. There's two ways to do this combo. Either use the original delayed version like with thunderfall, and simply do not dodge, but dash, and it will work, OR, you can use it at a closer range, where you are above the opponent, and you can do it even if you landed it immediately! Though much harder to do than the delayed version, it's well worth the risk in some cases, such as punishing attacks. Use cuation during this technique as it will put you in a precarious situation close to your foe. Judge the neutral before attempting to pull it off.
This works better at the ceiling.
Water you waiting for?
An easier combo, but still range specific, is Watera into thunder! This is useful for that extra damage, or if you're using aerith assist, as getting an aerith assist off of bob can be hard. This combo allows you to maximize damage and still get that assist by dashing forward at the point of contact and catching them with a thunder. It looks flashy and it is! you just need to be close when bob does his explody thing, or it wont work.
Why is this water frozen?!
I couldn't think of a better name.
Bob gonna hit? you in the right range? why not get EXTRA crispy... or the opposite, and freeze them in place! Time it right and bob will hit them right into a freeze trap of death and destruction! You lose your ability to assist combo but gain that mental edge. "Did he really just do that? Oh man this guy knows his stuff." The first minute of a fight isn't about winning, it's about sending a message. A message that you're going to win. It's about winning.
Aerith Unchained
I chose to include this under specific range because it IS a specific combo.
If you have a two bars of Aerith assist, and you catch them in one, Try the double crushing blow combo. Not only does it make them hate you as much as we hate LXD on Tuesdays, It makes for some crispy extra damage. About 1200 of it to be precise. This combo can be hard to pull off but it's arguably easier than the zidaerith combo, so give it a shot. Maybe you can be a casual too!
Magic glitched Lightning strike
This is... a less ranged specific, more situational combo but it's very important to keep track of.
Every once and a while, especially while using Aerith, and sometimes without, You'll come across times when your watera would interrupt flourish of steel. This usually means you cant get off your damage. This can happen when you block on the ground, or when you land an Aerith ground rush combo with Thunderfall or Smite.
In these situations it can seem like your only option is Gale. Well Gale kind of isn't your most optimal choice in those situations, because if watera hits you'll miss.
The solution is Magic glitch! So the trick is, as soon as watera's about to hit or hits, use lightning strike. Your watera will hit and Lightning strike will miss, but because of the link glitch, the second strike of the attack hits regardless within range.
Particularly useful for lightning, because it helps her reliably land HPs.
5. Tech pertaining to commando
GET READY
Flourish of steel. A move that would have been great on smite, but ends up subpar on launch because of the ground requirement. Honestly I hardly get to use this badass looking attack that assist combos against walls. I only end up using it to punish stuff like nightglow, or glare hand in the golbez matchup, and while there's still more use for it it's not often that amazing. Let me tell you though, Pair this with omni ground dash + and suddenly you've got a potent tool to punish anyone who tries to play their meager ground game. (firion need not apply. We have thunderfall for you)
Use it on blocks, use it on punish, Use it randomly to spook them. But don't use it to much. You shouldn't see this all the time.
PEW PEW PEW
Blaze rush is unique in that it's niche is being a shittier army of one. If you're not in ravager and you want to do everything an army of one does but worse, use blaze rush! it doesn't reflect projectiles, and it doesn't chase, but it DOES punish dodges and blocks and it DOES wallrush, meaning you can assist combo with it. Good mixup tool on the wall if you want a spicy reset after your combo.
I think I'm getting dizzy.
Lightning seems to have a bunch of weird priorities. For example, she can dash at you on the ground and clash with most braves, and then shoot you in the back of the head. Real women don't need to fight you head on. They just need to Bull rush you until you cant see straight. Apparently.
Use this at the start of matches to scare opponents or clash. It's a good move to use out of thundaga. It's not exactly advanced tech, but using commando at all anymore is so foriegn that I thought I'd put this here.
smite combos
If you're good at timing stuff, smite combos into a lot of kuja's stuff. If you do it right you can combo the first hit into the air assist. You can even combo the whole thing into the ground assist. Switching to commando after calling assist should be mandatory at this point, just to combo, but also for that crispy +1 attack.
VI. Points for trying.
Thank you for taking the time to read this guide. If you're gonna give lightning a try, Good luck! she's very fun to play and definitely rewarding to learn and master. I wouldn't call myself a master yet, but I'm getting there. We can learn together! Maybe you can even teach me something!
Shoutouts:
RDF for teaching me a lot of the subtle tech during some lightning dittos. And also for being a badass. Thanks RDF.
Muggshotter For discussing the guide with me, and talking about tech and move analysis. Also gave me a crispy chart for damage numbers and priority
The Crispy Crew You know who you are. Stay frosty fellas.
Wheelz Dude's a G. nuff said.
LXD I say I hate playing you, and I do... but i do get a lot of thought out of it, and you're a G. thanks for putting up with my shit friend.
TKG for reviewing and helping me add missing content and fix existing content.
Ujbhn for the frame data chart
All the people I played to learn this mountain of a character do you guys think lightning would be upset at me for referring to her as a mountain? probably.

Table of Contents
The Basics
How to suck less in the customisation screen
End Words
(Sharing Builds)
The Basics
What you should know about your accessories. It was touched briefly upon in the beginner's journal guide and you should also know about hacked accessories so you dont use them.
Basic Accessories (Yellow Icon)
Effected by the multiplied number (x) your booster accessories currently have.
Example. You have Hyper Ring (5% increased damage and a basic accessorie) and 3 boosters that gives you 2.5x mulitplier, basic math is 5 x 2.5 = 12.5 > rounded down to 12, so you get a 12% increased damage.
Booster Accessories (Purple Icon with red flag)
Your multiplier, the higer X you have the higher your basics accessories effect will be. The current active multiplier number (x) is shown in the top corners and is colored red while fighting. You will always have 1x even if you dont see it (having no boosters equipped).
There is a few different mulitplier numbers
1.2x - Average
1.3x - Good
1.4x - Really good
1.5x - The best
2.5x - This is only one accessorie and the 2.5x only lasts 15 seconds and drop to 0.5x after that which halves your booster multiplier.
5.0x - Also just one accessorie and works only when you take damage longer then 4 seconds.
Also note that the boosters are different in how and when they are activated.
Example. You have two 1.2x, one 1.4x and lastly a 1.5x equipped: 1.2 x 1.2 x 1.4 x 1.5 = 3.024 rounded down to 3x which means your max booster is 3x
Special Accessories (Red Icon)
Some are good with strong effects but they dont work with the boosters. However this dont mean they are completly useless.
If you see accessories with the note "Breakables" dont use them online.
How to suck less in the customisation screen
Brought to you by Muggshotter with a bit of help from TKG09
When planning a PvP build it is a necessity to include meter depletion on both assist and EX. These can be included either via Judgment of Lufenia or Seal of Lufenia equipment sets and / or Battle Hammer and Dismay Shock basic accessories. These take away a bit of opponent's meter upon landing an HP, enabling you to force the opponent to escape from HP damage earlier as well as bypass EX Revenge situations when you could've been finished otherwise.
It is a good idea to make equipment sets for your character with both Judgment of Lufenia and Seal of Lufenia sets on as to accomodate different matchups where you may have to prioritise depleting one meter over the other.
After that, an ideal PvP build usually goes for one of the following:
A) Damage (with or without wall rush)
B) Side by Side
C) EX
D) Bravery boost on dodge / block
E) EX Core
F) Hybrid (a mix of everything)
Good reliable accessory boosters include Summon Unused (and the opponent variant), Pre-EX Mode, Pre-EX Revenge, Aerial and Large Gap in HP. You'll see these recommended a lot.
Damage
Self explanatory, a damage build prioritises high bravery damage output and subsequently total HP damage per HP hit. Not everyone can reach the same lengths of bravery damage, usually due to low damage multipliers on one's moves and lower base attack stat. These characters usually circumvent this shortcoming with wall rushes or the help of high base bravery in conjunction with assists, but we'll get to those a bit later.
Prishe, Garland, Sephiroth, Cloud, Kain, Kuja and Ultimecia are some of the characters who can benefit greatly from the following.
For equipment you should always seek out a weapon with 69 ATK stat unless your character's exclusive weapons provides 70 ATK (Garland's Gigant Axe for example). If your armor set is for Seal of Lufenia's 5 % EX depletion, Lufenian Dirk (hand, Parrying gear) is a must as it provides +1 attack as well as good 72 defense.
Earthbreaker, Cleaver and Rhongomiant (for King of Tragedy EX Revenge builds) are good weapons possessing 69 attack stat that anyone can wield with the help of a CP glitch.
For accessories it comes as no surprise that Hyper Ring, Muscle Belt / Earring are viable choices here. Bundle Hyper Ring + Muscle Belt or Earring ()depending on the character) with boosters such as BRV > Base Value, Pre-EX Mode, Pre-EX Revenge, Summon Unused and Aerial / Grounded for a respectable damage output.
Add extra abilities such as Sneak Attack, Counterattack and Riposte to really shred the opponent's bravery with upped critical hit rates, maybe even include First Strike ability if you think you(r character) can go the distance, that one is guaranteed to activate on the first hit you land. These are generally always good to have, your opponent can only disable one of them, meaning you will still maintain a good critical hit rate throughout the match. Even characters with subpar bravery damage can do wonders with a bit of double damage from critical hits, so when spreading out your CP give these abilites some thought.
Side by Side
These builds revolve around the special accessory "Side by Side" that prevents you from acquiring any EX AT ALL (even from EX cores), but in turn gives you a massive chunk of assist bar from landing just one HP. Side by Side is very potent with characters who can link HPs on their own and followup with an assist afterwards or need meter to for general momentum, including (but not limited to) Warrior of Light, Cloud, Onion Knight, Zidane, Jecht, Golbez and Kefka.
The goal with a Side by Side build is to deal a lot of damage. This can be achieved either through high bravery damage output or high base bravery. In both cases wall rush is a big help.
For equipment you can apply a lot from the damage build paragraph. 69 attack or 70 if your exclusive weapon has it. Wall rush HP damage is also a good option e.g. Earthbreaker, Cloud's exclusive weapon Fenrir.
For high base bravery, Piggy's Stick is a Katana-type weapon that provides +239 to your base bravery in addition to the head armor, but it comes with -80 % BRV recovery. You have to be able to secure base bravery for each hp for optimal damage, so boosting BRV recovery will become a part of your build. If you focus your meter depletion on accessories, you can opt to equip Royal Crown (head) with 100 % BRV recovery, Borghertz's Hands (hand) and Lufenian Armor (torso) both providing 39 base bravery each. Lufenian sets' meter depletion is still nothing to sneeze at, so don't rule them out.
For accessories you now have an excellent 1.5x booster at your fingertips, Empty EX Gauge. This is a big booster that will be active for the entirety of the match, and bundled with Pre-EX Mode, Pre-EX Revenge, Aerial and Summon Unused (as well as BRV = 0 if you can secure wall rushes) you have a lot of profit on your hands.
Aforementioned damage rings, as well as Sniper Eye for wall rush HP damage are good picks. If you don't equip Royal Crown, Bravery Orb as well as Great Gospel are worthy candidates too. But mostly Bravery Orb as that scales with your boosters. If you feel you need a good headstart in the meter race, Together as One is a great pick. Include Badge of Trust and you pretty much start the match with two assist bars if you deem it essential for your upcoming matchup.
EX
EX builds prioritise EX absorption either through added intake range or increased value per ex absorbed into oneself, but even so they never sacrifice assist (they're that important).
Weapon department provides Heaven's Cloud for +4M EX intake range, but with a measly 67 attack. Addded intake range is good as you can accumulate more ex in one place more quickly and if your character does not deal big bravery damage like Lightning, the 67 attack is not that big of a deal.
Another weapon is once again Cleaver. 69 attack with +10 % ex force absorption. Garland, Kuja, Ultimecia and Gilgamesh have exclusive weapons with +10 % ex force absorption, but Garland's is undisputed best among them. 70 attack and +10 % ex force absorption is something other characters can only dream of.
Special accessories is where most of the magic happens. White Drop and White Gem add a fixed boost to ex force absorption by 5 % and 10 % respectively and you can equip up to three White Drops for a total of 25 % boost to your ex absorption rate. These accessories come with a downside of reduced assist gauge duration, meaning your assist bar will begin to decay sooner. With well placed whiffs it won't get you killed. Not often, anyway.
The other two accessories influence when you can acquire EX. Tenacious Attacker and Glutton allow you to absorb ex even when attacking or taking damage. Tenacious Attacker is a standard in EX builds as it allows you to whiff for meter and reap the rewards as you deal damage. Both work great in conjunction with Heaven's Cloud's added intake range as you will in most cases get a part of the ex either you or your opponent generated.
Seal of Lufenia is a good anti-EX equipment set, but a basic accessory "EX Breaker" is particularly potent with Ultimecia. The accessory has a chance of depleting the opponent's EX gauge in one bravery hit and since it's a basic accessory, it can scale with your booster accessories. Other characters don't get mileage out of it as easily due to how one attack = one chance at triggering the EX Iai effect of the accessory, you don't get a new chance with every bravery hit you land except with Ultimecia. Don't ask why.
Bravery boost on dodge / block
This kind of build tailors specifically to few matchups: Ultimecia, The Emperor and Sephiroth (Shadow Flare abuse).
By forgoing pure damage and some meter gain and depletion you can amass over 100 bravery every time you dodge a move, including unblockable projectiles. Same applies to blocking, except for the unblockable part of course.
An example build involves the Adamant Chains set for an 8 % BRV boost on dodge.
Weapon of Choice
Adamant Shield
Adamant Helm
Adamant Vest
You can swap out Adamant Helm for Dueling Mask (3 % BRV boost on dodge) and your weapon of choice for Adamant Knife if the matchup you're playing won't grant you many opportunities to land hits.
For accessories Zephyr Cloak is a no-brainer. Heart's Ease if you can block consistently (e.g. Jecht and his Jecht Block) and of course Battle Hammer and Dismay Shock for meter depletion.
Boosters should include the general Summon Unused, Pre-EX Mode, Pre-EX Revenge and Aerial (or Empty EX Gauge if you go Side by Side). BRV > base value is great too as the point is to accumulate a lot of bravery over time.
Special accessory Back-Breaking Straw is a good addition as well despite it not scaling with your boosters. At this point you should have one or two accessory slots to spare and if you do not use it for Side by Side + Together as One, other complementary special accessories such as Tenacious Attacker, Hero's Essence and First to Victory are not the worst picks out there.
Or you can go for Opponent's Summon Unused and After 30 seconds boosters, that's fine too.
EX Core
Another matchup specific build, this one prioritises the amount of EX you get from a single EX core. This often means you play a grounded game and / or are prepared for EX core races. Against characters who tend to hug the ceiling (Ultimecia and Exdeath) this can be an easy way to acquire a great amount of EX every time an EX core shows up. It is also viable in matchups where character x can outrun character y in a lot of situations e.g. Onion Knight vs. Cloud of Darkness.
For equipment, Loki's Lute weapon provides +20 % boost to EX core absorption, although it does only have 67 attack. Squall and Vaan can equip their exclusive weapons for a 30 % boost with 68 attack.
The Soul of Yamato equipment set (Genji parts) provide an EX Core appearence boost, but is usually preferable only on Gabranth as the set complements more of his EX mode gameplan than others.
For accessories, Dragonfly Orb is often the go-to basic accessory for EX core builds. The assist gauge duration nerf is hardly relevant, it decays from two bars a bit faster, but if you can maintain your assist meter consistently it's not really a big problem.
Aside from the aforementioned good boosters, EX Core Present adds a good 1.5x bonus to each of your cores. Aerial is preferable as not all stages plant their ex cores to the ground (see World of Darkness) and the matchup you play is most likely aerial-oriented anyway.
Hybrid
This is all about picking a good balance between damage and meter play. Maybe some added ex force absorption with more wall rush damage? Or perhaps you really want that early assist meter boost with Together as One but still desire to benefit from EX cores? Hybrid builds can make that happen. In hybrid builds assist and ex co-exist and it's all about what you prefer.
An example set of accessories could include basic accessories Muscle Belt, Sniper Eye, Battle Hammer, boosters BRV > Base Value, Pre-EX Mode, Pre-EX Revenge, Aerial, special accessories White Gem, Tenacious Attacker and First to Victory for a nice headstart.
At the end of the day you can mix and match a lot of these concepts in your build. If high base bravery and wall rush damage is your thing but you still want to benefit ex, that is fine. It's not wrong to think that with good boosters you can enjoy the benefits of bravery boost on dodge as well as meter drain and maybe damage if you go for it. For boosters you will always want something consistent, something that activates when it's most optimal for you and can be relied on through the course of a single match and pick special accessories that you feel are necessary to your gameplan or playstyle. Just don't equip Center of the World or any of the set damage / defense rings (aside from Sturm und Drang and maybe Avenger).
End words
And lastly don't be that guy who contemplates 20 minutes whether to go Side by Side or hybrid and delay tournaments at every turn because chances are your opponent is not going to play any worse. A bad decision is a still a decision, and people don't have all fucking day for yours.
Please don't be that guy, don't be Sys.
Plan ahead and make the right decision. Remember the art of war. If you know yourself but don't know your opponent('s character) you are only going to win 50 % of the time. Don't be that guy who only wins 50 % of the time, be the guy who wins 100 % of the time.
Make your builds in advance and take your potential adversary into consideration.
Have fun in creating your own character builds!
(Sharing Builds)
If you want to share your build you can use http://www.charlietang.net/dissidia/012.php
but:
Have fun sharing!

Duodecim Knowledge: Outline
I. Player Mechanics
A. BRAVERY ATTACKS & BRAVERY BREAK <PRESS O>
Using a Bravery Attack takes away from opponent's Bravery (BRV) - that's the number above a character's panel during battle. Bravery Attacks do not reduce an opponent's Hit Points (HP), but Bravery itself is used to deal HP damage. Note that some BRV Attacks may initiate Chase, may link to an HP attack, or may cause Wall Rush. Wall Rush is additional damage due to impact against a wall, ceiling, or floor. Not all Bravery attacks have the Chase or Wall Rush properties. Slam the opponent around with your Bravery Attacks to deplete their Bravery past zero, inflicting them with Bravery Break. While in Bravery Break, Bravery slowly charges back up to its base. You can land Bravery Attacks to help the charge along, but it won’t deplete the opponent’s Bravery at all.
B. HP ATTACKS <PRESS >
Using an HP Attack takes away your opponent's HP equivalent to your current BRV, which is consumed to power the special attack. Some attacks inflict Wall Rush - additional HP Damage due to being slammed against the wall. The damage inflicted by Wall Rush is normally 25% of the initial damage. Not all HP attacks have the Wall Rush properties. After landing an HP attack, a character's Bravery will charge back up to its base amount from zero - although it takes longer to recharge the more Bravery was used in the HP Attack. When your Bravery is dangerously low or you are suffering from Bravery Break, you can land an HP Attack specifically to get your Bravery back up to base.
C. CHASE <PRESS X to initiate; PRESS O or  to attack; PRESS X to dodge>
After certain BRV attacks, a Chase may be initiated by pressing X when cued. Chase is an alternating attack sequence. Pressing O initiates a FAST BRV CHASE ATTACK which can continue into another chase, if you so choose. You can even direct where you toss the opponent with the analog stick when you press the O button; tilt it up to launch them upwards (Chase-Up), down to launch them downwards (Chase-Down), and keep the button neutral to simply knock them away (Chase-Back). Use this to your advantage to slam them into walls, ceilings, and floors for additional damage. Pressing  initiates a DELAYED HP CHASE ATTACK which inflicts HP damage - and potentially Wall Rush from the knock backwards. If you're being Chased, press Ximmediately when the opponent does a BRV Chase attack and press X a few seconds after the opponent begins his HP Chase attack (Tip: During HP Chase Attacks, the screen dims and most characters speak). While dodging an attack, you can move left or right by tilting the analog stick in a direction, which can help set up a favorable orientation for you to use for Wall Rushes. Initiating, or continuing, Chase with X also pulls all EX Force present on the field to you. Chase automatically ends if either character is idle for more than one second during his turn to attack.
D. SPECIAL MANEUVERS:
Press <R+Δ> to Ground Dash or Air Dash.
Press X to jump.
Press <R+X> to dodge. You can control the direction of the dodge. Dodges attempt to avoid an attack. Learn to dodge an attack by learning its timing!
Press R to block. Blocking attempts to parry an attack to stagger an opponent. Not all attacks can be Blocked! Most HP attacks and strong Bravery attacks CANNOT be blocked.
Press L to change targets. Pressing multiple times can cycle through the multiple targets. The cycle order is "[Enemy] > [Enemy Assist] if available > [EX Core] if available > [Disengaged]" and back to the beginning. This can be useful to whoosh toward those precious EX Cores or to Lock an opponent's Assist.
E. SUMMONSTONES <PRESS R+O>
This point covers the use of Summons during battle. Summons are BRV altering effects that happen during a battle. They may affect the Player's BRV, the Opponent's BRV, or the Stage's BRV Pool. Each one is different, so look at its in-game description to understand its effects. A Summonstone can be used only once per battle, except while Cosmos or Double Judgment is active.
There are three kinds of summons, classified by way of activation.
Automatic: These summons will activate when specified requirements are met.
Manual: These summons will activate when <R+O> is pressed.
Counter: These summons will activate when the opponent's summon is activated
II. Stage Mechanics
A. MAP BRAVERY
Each stage has its own Bravery, the number found between the character panels. You can receive the Bravery as a bonus for inflicting Break status on your opponent through various means. The Map Bravery will be restored after a few moments. However, on Omega Ω Stages, Map Bravery is not static, and can fluctuate depending on actions perform by the players, and even the stage itself.
B. BANISH TRAPS
Some stages don't always have a place for you to set your feet, and where there isn't a foothold, you'll probably find a Banish Trap. An invisible hazard that makes up the stages periphery if there is no surface, coming into contact with a Banish Trap will shroud your character with a dark cloud and quickly start to drain a small amount of Bravery from you, before ultimately teleporting you to solid ground after sapping a small chunk of Bravery. Any Bravery taken by a Banish Trap is added to the Map Bravery.
C. NORMAL STAGES AND OMEGA STAGES
Normals Stages are...normal. Straightforward, no? Omega Ω Stages are stages with special gimmicks that affect the Stage's Map Bravery. Some Ω stages are given additional obstacles which change the Map Bravery. Other Ω stages are given special requirements. Each Ω Stage is different, so look at their in-game descriptions (or at the stage list below).
D. JUDGMENT
There are three kinds of Judgment: Cosmos Judgment, Chaos Judgment, and Double Judgment. When watching the current battle, the benevolent Cosmos will aid those in need while the relentless Chaos punishes the cowardly.
Cosmos Judgment
Merciful Touch: When near death, the EX Gauge will be filled completely.
Retribution's Path: If a Break gives the opponent the needed BRV to win the match, Cosmos will give restore your Summonstone for the battle.
Divine Protection: If the opponent enters EX Mode while your Bravery is low, your Assist Gauge won't get knocked to zero!
Chaos Judgment
Invitation to Destruction: After a certain length of time from the beginning of battle, both players' critical hit ratios will increase.
Coward's Punishment: If a player refuses to attack, Chaos will immobilize them for their cowardice.
Double Judgment:
Both Judgments are active. May the merciful hand of Cosmos deliver you from the unrivaled wrath of Chaos.
III. Assist System
A. ASSIST ATTACK & MAINTENANCE
Call an Assist into the battle to help out in certain situations. The Assist system is meant to directly oppose EX Mode, with varying effects to each other. An Assist can be called to attack the opponent's Bravery, or their HP, and the attack they will perform is circumstantial to the characters’ positions (explained later). Assists are powered by the orange meter under the HP display, which is segmented into two bars. Performing attacks charges the meter, and landing attacks charges them even more. However, using the same attacks repeatedly will begin to see diminishing returns, with the charge received being less and less, forcing players to use a variety of attacks. After a few moments of inactivity, the meter will start to rapidly deplete, which means if players want to keep their Assist Gauge filled, they'll have to stay in the action, adapting a more active/aggressive style overall. Use it or lose it!
Assist-B = L+O - Assist attacks the opponent’s Bravery, adding it to the player’s. Requires one full memory.
Assist-H = L+ - Assist attacks the opponent’s HP, consuming your Bravery. Requires two full memories.
As seen in the video, it is possible to chain together a string of combos with well-timed attacks before and after an Assist's attack. Memories will not charge, and an Assist cannot be called to chain from attacks chained from an Assist until the opponent recovers. When an Assist attacks, they also reduce the opponent's EX Gauge with each blow, yet their attacks also don't produce any EX Force to be gathered. An Assist-H landed while you are in EX Mode will not trigger the option for an EX Burst. An Assist's attack power is also based off the player Character's power. Now, let's take a look at a chart....
-Assist screen picture-
Note that Aerith is an Assist Only characer, and not playable in the game
This is a screenshot of the Assist Menu in your Customize Menu. Notice that on either side of the skill, there a small icons, colored blue or red. These icons represent the player and opponent characters, while next to the left icon, you see small bars. These white and gray bars denote the circumstance for the skill. The white bar above the gray bar means the character must be in the air, while vice versa means the character must be on the ground.
If the icon on the left is blue, then it depends on if the player is in the right position (land or air) for that Assist Skill. If it is red, then it depends on the opponent's position. So, looking at Aerith's Bravery skills, they both depend on the player's location.
The icon on the right tells us where the Assist will appear when they use that skill. blue denotes the Assist will appear near the player, while red means the Assist will appear near the opponent. So, as we can see from Aerith's skills, her Land Assist-B has her appearing next to the player, while her Air Assist-B has her appear next to the opponent.
Protect your Assist at all costs when they come out to the field. This means making sure the instance in which they are called possesses little to no risk of them being blocked or countered. Calling Assists during your own attacks at the appropriate moment for combos is one of the best - and safest - times. If you call an Assist out at an inopportune time, do everything in your power to prevent the opponent from attacking them, as an Assist Lock can be a benefit you don't want your opponent to have over you.
The player can set the Assist (and their costume) they bring with them in the same way they select their equipment from the Customization Menu. However, it is not possible to set what attacks they do. During Story Mode play, the available Assists will be preselected characters, ones that have relevance to the player character's story.
B. ASSIST CHARGE
-Assist Charge Gif-
A helpful boost to a player at risk! The Assist Charge system allows a player in dire straits a chance to turn the tables. Okay, so you're about to die, you've been smacked around and your Bravery is low, or worse - till your Bravery broke...YOU'RE IN A BAD SPOT, OKAY? If you manage to land an attack while you're in trouble like this, your Assist Gauge will get an instant charge to help ya~ An "Assist Charge" instantly charges ONEmemory. Likewise, if you’re low on HP, or the opponent has enough Bravery to send you to the great hereafter, you can try to counter their HP Attack for an "Assist Full Charge," which instantly charges THE ENTIRE GAUGE. Don't give up! Just because you're down, doesn't mean you're out!
C. ASSIST CHANGE <PRESS L+O or L+> While under attack
-Assist Change Gif-
While in the midst of an opponent's attack (or staggering after a hit, or block), you can call your Assist in to take the place of the player character. Using L+O (Change-1) will bring the Assist in to take the hit for you, locking the Assist in the process, while using L+ (Change-2) brings in the Assist to block the opponent's attack and stagger them, without locking the memories. A moment later, the player character will reappear, dashing high into the air (or downward if at a ceiling), away from the opponent. One tip for successful Assist Changing against HP Attacks is to wait until the last moment, because some attacks, like Cecil's Paladin Force or Cloud's Omnislash ver5, will track over to the player character when they reappear on the field, still resulting in a hit. Calling the Assist in either way consumes the same applicable amount of Assist memories as a normal Attack call.
D. ASSIST CHASE
-Assist Chase Gif-
If an Assist's attack initiates Chase, you can press the X button to automatically rush to the opponent's back by teleporting, catching them with your own attacks as they fly away. Timing is a bit stricter depending on when and what attack you follow up with, because the opponent may continue to fly away during the start up of your assault. Take note that your character will still follow an invisible path to the opponent instead of truly "teleporting," so if there is a wall, ceiling, or floor in the way you'll still get caught up by it.
E. ASSIST LOCK
-Assist Lock Gif-
When the opponent calls their Assist to the field, there is a moment for retaliation while they are present. If the player can stagger the Assist through an attack or block, the opponent's Assist Meter is locked for roughly 22 seconds. However the more times they are locked, the longer it lasts. This prevents the opponent from calling their Assist to the field for a short period of time. Assist Lock also occurs when using a Change-1 (L+O). Any time you Assist Lock an opponent, your character will automatically absorb all EX Force present on the field, and they are freed from the cooldown of the attack that locked them.
IV. EX System
A. EX FORCE & EX CORES
EX Force are those blue floaty dots that appear when you give your opponent a good whack. Collecting EX Force slowly charges your EX Gauge. EX Cores are the pure essence of EX Force in the shape of a winged bell. The more wings an EX Core has, the more EX Force it holds. EX Force increases your EX Gauge (on the side of the character panel). EX Cores themselves also don't give as much EX Force as they did before, making it more beneficial to let them soak up EX Force and grow more wings, instead of racing directly for them as they appear.
B. EX MODE & EX BURST <Press R+; land HP Attack and press >
When your EX Gauge is all orange and shiny, R +  puts you in EX Mode. Your character receives unique enhancements and unique skills for the remainder of EX Mode, which is roughly 20 seconds. Whenever a player enters EX Mode, their opponent's Assist Gauge instantly drops to zero, as well. If you manage to land an HP Attack during EX Mode, press  as indicated and follow the other commands to do a more powerful attack called an EX Burst. If you're suffering an EX Burst, press O repeatedly to increase your defense!
C. EX REVENGE <Outside of EX Mode, press R+ when attacked>
-EX-Revenge Gif-
Go EX while under attack or while staggered to perform EX Revenge, cashing in the ENTIRE EX Gauge and slowing down the opponent's movements for around six seconds (or until HP damage is dealt). It also frees your character from the cooldown frames on their attacks for EX Revenge's duration. Under EX Revenge, you will also not enter EX Mode. Use EX Revenge in dire situations to save your sorry bootata. If you're caught in EX Revenge, you can use an Assist Change or even go EX yourself to cancel out of the effect.
D. EX BREAK
-EX Break Gif-
If you're damaged by an Assist while you're in EX Mode, EX Mode will instantly end (poo...) and the opponent will receive the Map Bravery. This does not, however, reduce your Bravery like a Bravery Break. Gabranth has a new EX Ability called "Jamming" that prevents the opponent from receiving the Map Bravery when he is inflicted with EX Break. Of course, you can always Assist Break the opponent before this happens...
E. ASSIST BREAK
-Assist Break Gif-
If you are able to stagger an opponent's Assist through an attack or blocking while you are in EX Mode, not only will their Assist be locked, but you will also acquire the Map Bravery for a boost to your own Bravery! This does not completely reduce the opponent's Bravery.
EX OPPOSES ASSIST
Something you should probably note is the concept "EX opposes Assist." Virtually, if you do something good with your Assist, your opponent's EX goes down, and vice versa. If you whack someone with an Assist, their EX gauge decreases. If you activate your EX Gauge, the opponent's Assist Gauge is cleared. If you use Assist Change, you will be Locked and your opponent will collect all the EX Force on the field. If you block or hit an Assist while in EX Mode, you Assist Break the opponent. If your Assist hits an opponent in EX Mode, you EX Break your opponent. If memorizing all these Breaks, Locks, and Depletion rules confuse you, just stick with "EX opposes Assist."
V. Miscellaneous
A. Stage List
FFI - Old Chaos Shrine: Ω Player BRV sapped at a constant rate and added to BRV Pool; characters with higher BRV have more sapped when sap recurs.
FFII - Pandemonium: Ω Spikes rise from red bricks; taking damage from spikes adds to BRV Pool. Red bricked areas and blue bricked areas change periodically.
FFIII - World of Darkness: Ω When darkness gathers, Stage changes form. BRV pool increases quickly when players are close to each other in Close Darkness and quickly when players are far from each other in Far Darkness.
FFVI - Crystal Tower
FFIV - Lunar Subterrane: Ω BRV Pool increases when stage elements are destroyed.
FFV - The Rift: Ω BRV pool increases as stage is rearranged.
FFVI - Kefka's Tower: Ω BRV Pool increases when Magitek puffs; Rush opponent into vents to get more puffs and additional Rush damage.
FFVI - Phantom Train
FFVII - Planet's Core: Ω BRV Pool continuously increases after stage changes
FFVIII - Ultimecia's Castle: Ω BRV Pool Randomly fluctuates during Time Compression; destroyed objects reconstructed.
FFIX - Crystal World: Ω As crystals appear, BRV Pool increases; crystals regenerate when destroyed.
FFVI - MS Prima Vista
FFX - Dream's End: Ω BRV Pool increases by the amount of BRV damage is dealt during an attck
FFXI - Empyreal Paradox: Ω Mothercrystal absorbs light below stage, increasing BRV Pool; standing near crystal siphons character BRV. One who destroys crystal gains BRV pool.
FFXII - Sky Fortress Bahamut: Ω BRV Pool increases when fighters are on the ground
FFXIII - Orphan's Cradle: Ω BRV Pool increases when platforms appear at the sides of the area
Dissidia - Order's Sanctuary: Ω Current BRV doubled when Break is inflicted
Dissidia - Edge of Madness: Ω BRV Randomly fluctuates.
B. General Terminology
Start-up frames: Common terms referring to the beginning animations of attacks.
Cooldown: Common terms referring to the ending animations of attacks.
Broadcast: Anything about an attack that makes the opponent aware of its use, like Squall's Rough Divide
Dodge Cancel (DC): This is the capability to dodge out of attack animations.
Forward Dodge Cancel (FDC): This is when one dodge cancels...forward...Complicated, huh?
Backwards Dodge Cancel (BDC): Dodge Cancel in a backwards direction.
Side Dodge Cancel (SDC): Dodge Cancel to the side. Are you seein' a pattern here?
Turn Dodge Cancel (TDC): Dodge Cancel executed by making a quarter-circle motion while dodging; midair only and Midair Evasion Boost required.
Return Dodge Cancel (RDC): Dodge Cancel performed by quickly dodging forward and then backward to end at the initial spot; midair only and Midair Evasion Boost required.
Peeling: Attacking an enemy suffering from a Wall Rush, as the attack literally peels them off the wall while they are defenseless. Peeling can be done by the player from an Assist's WR, or an Assist can Peel from the Player's WR. It is impossible for a player to peel from their own WR.
Wake Up: Refers to a character's recovery from being slammed into a surface
Link Glitch: Explained below. Commonly abbreviated "LG."
You should know your stats! Open meee~
C. General Knowledge
Abilities are your character's actions and effects. Enabling them in the Customization Menu will allow you to perform that Ability.
Offensive abilities are your BRV and HP attacks.
Basic Abilities are classified as Action: mostly special maneuvers, Support: aid in controlling characters, and Extra: a set of specialized abilities.
Of course, you can't just equip everything you want. The character needs sufficient Capacity Points (CP) to equip them.
Some abilities don't like each other and just cannot be equipped simultaneously.
Ability Points (AP) are granted after victories and help to master your Abilities.
Mastering an ability halves its CP cost, making room for more abilities~
Branching Abilities may appear after having mastered an Ability. Most players call these HP Links. These are noted with the word "UPDATE."
Before battle start, you'll see an AP Chance box on the bottom right-hand corner. Fulfilling this condition grants you more AP if you win the battle.
If you're staring at an Offensive Ability on the Abilities Screen 'cause you have NO idea what the hell it does, press . It will show you a chart of commands for the attack.
It might be good to learn now that each character has his own CP bar and his own AP. Gaining AP with Tidus does nothing for Jecht. Sorry, daddy--you gotta earn your own AP the hard way.
As you level up, you'll gain more Abilities~ Work harder!
Equipment is a way to enhance your character's base stats.
Weaponry raises attack (ATK). This helps you to get more BRV when you whack someone.
Hand equipment raises defense (DEF.) This helps protect your BRV when you get whacked.
Headgear raises your BRV. I hope you know what BRV is since I said it, liek, 146 times already.
Body armor raises your HP. More HP is good 'cause having HP = not dead.
Not everyone can equip the same thing. (Kain shouldn't equip bells, you silly thing, you~) If you wanna see who can equip what, press  when you have an article of equipment highlighted.
Some equipment come in sets. When an entire set is equipped, additional effects are granted. You can tell if equipment is in the set if there's a gold circle and then something like "Glorious Gold 1/3" noted.
Some equipment can be found during wireless battles. All the more reason to have a group of geeks like us around, right?
Accessories are a really tricky thing to get a hang of at first. These are items which grant special, usually temporary, effects when certain requirements are fulfilled.
Basic Accessories (Yellow Icon)
Act exactly as their descriptions say. One I love to use is the [Gravitorb : EX Intake Range+3m]. This means I can grab those cute EX Force dots three meters farther than normal.
Booster Accessories (Purple Icon with red flag)
Multipliers which activate during certain conditions. A common one is [HP = 100%: 1.5 times]. If the Booster's condition is fulfilled, you multiply the number times the effects of your Basics. Let's take the [Gravitorb] and say that my [HP = 100%] condition is fulfilled. Take the effects of [Gravitorb] and multiply it by 1.5 to get the new effect. So, 3 meters X 1.5 = 4.5 meters! You're now slurping up EX Force 4.5 meters away rather than the usual 3 meters away. During Battle, the top corner of your side of the screen will show highlighted panels and a number, indicating any active Boosters and the current Multiplier.
Special Accessories (Red Icon) aren't affected by Boosters.
They're lone rangers that will ALWAYS do what it says it will. The [Chocobo Feather: Experience Value+100%; Breakability = 30%] accessory will ALWAYS grant you 100% more Experience. Um, but you see that word? "Breakability?" That means that, at the end of the match, there's a rough 1/3 chance it may break. Not every Special accessory will break, but some might. Think carefully before you decide to use these.
Trade Accessories (Blue Icon with circular arrows)
May have special effects and whatever, but that's not what they're made for (besides, their effects suck.) You TRADE them to get better, nicer, cooler accessories. You COULD equip them or even sell them for Gil, but why not save them to equip awesomer stuff?
Confused with all these words, numbers and plus signs? Open meee!
There are some limits on how many you can equip. Open meee~
Lastly: Look around the forums for players who are good at Accessory Builds. Builds are a set of Accessories tailored for a specific strategy or character.
Summonstones
BRV modifying devices used in battle. For usage in Battle, refer to the earlier point. On your Summon Screen is a list of all your summons on the right (assuming you have them, of course...) You'll see that they have a few boxes █ to the right--those are its charges. You can use it for as many battles as there are available charges. Light blue boxes indicate an available charge. Blank boxes indicate a used charge. Yellow boxes indicate the current recharge progress. You can "Equip" a Summonstone with charges to use during battle. You can "Unequip" your current Summonstone if you don't want it. You can "Set Reserves," a handy little list-making option. (If you seriously mess up the list, you can click "Clear Reserves," y'know.) When you use up the charges of your Summonstone, the next in your reserves will automatically be equipped while your used Summonstone recharges. You can set a maximum of five to reserve. If the first Summonstone is recharged while the second one is equipped, the next Summonstone equipped will be the FIRST one, not the THIRD. In short, the game looks at the list of reserves, and selects the first available Summonstone according to its order.
There are three kinds of summons, classified by way of activation
Automatic: These summons will activate when specified requirements are met.
Manual: These summons will activate when <R+O> is pressed.
Counter: These summons will activate when the opponent's summon is activated
Sets!
These are "templates" which you can customize. So many characters have different ways to play (Onion Knight can be super mage or unrivaled swordsman) that you may want to make different sets for them. (Onion Runt could have nice Magical Damage/Physical Damage/Mag+Phys Damage builds.) You can customize and save your Abilities, Equipment, Accessories, and Summons into three different sets. Just press [Select] to choose a set.
Did you know that there are EX Mode Effects?
Besides being totally sexier, stronger, and shinier, you gain effects. Every character has the "Regen" effect, allowing him to regenerate a small portion of HP at a constant rate during EX Mode. The other EX Effects differ from each character. Some gain special EX Mode only attacks like Bartz's Goblin Punch or Ultimecia's Time Crush. Others gain attack, defense, speed augments. Other's are really wonky, like gliding, invulnerability to BRV attacks, or siphoning HP. Look at the EX Mode option in the Customization screen to know what your favorite character has~
D. General Strategies.
DC Combo: A combination of separate attacks connected by a Dodge Cancel. Refer to the Character Specific Forums for DC Combos for each character.
Assist Chain: A combination of separate attacks connect by an Assist Attack. Refer to the Character Specific Forums for Assist Chains for each character, and who they have synergy with.
LG Combo: Link Glitch (explained below) Combos are a combination of separate attacks using the Link Glitch. Refer to the Character Specific Forums for LG Combos for each character.
When your opponent is distracted or too far away, attack a little bit randomly. You might be able to charge an Assist Gauge bar, or at least keep the charge from depleting.
E. General Glitches
Link Glitch: The Link Glitch, commonly abbreviated LG, is a glitch present in both Dissidia and Duodecim. A two-part attack generally needs the first part to connect before the second part can begin. With the Link Glitch, part one can miss, while a separate attack connects and the game registers a hit, and part two can be executed. A very common LG combo is Terra's "Holy" > "Meteor" > "Ultima HP Link"
Labyrinth Bug > http://dissidia.community/topic/19-equip-anything-without-using-cp-like-bartz-labyrinth-bug/?do=getNewComment
VII. 012 Tweaks
There has been a slew of changes to the overall combat of Duodecim from Dissidia, making the already revamped game like something completely new. Aside from the changes listed below, the game also features an increased pace, while Quickmoves have the characters moving much faster than before.
Hit Points (HP), Bravery, and BREAK - In Dissidia, the maximum amount of both HP and Bravery a character could have was 9999. This allowed for crushing one-hit KO (OHKO) defeats with several characters. However, in Duodecim, the maximum amount of HP attainable reaches beyond four figures (no word yet on the new maximum), while Bravery is still capped at the regular 9999. This means that OHKOs are a thing of the past, so get yourself ready for longer battles! Similarly, the amount of Bravery gained from a Break has been lowered by a small degree. However, with new forms of gaining Map Bravery possible (EX Break, Assist Break), it won't be that much of a worry.
Dodging & Blocking - While Dodge Cancels still appear to be a decent portion of avoiding attacks while in the cooldown of an attack, several DC-dependent combos have been removed, and aerial dodges now have an increased cooldown of their own, which means you will either have to attack to cancel the cooldown of the dodge, or make sure you will be safe from an opponent's dodge punish. There is also abilities to increase the distance you dodge on the ground, as there was only an aerial dodge distance increasing ability in Dissidia. Whether increasing the distance of dodges is an advantage will depend on further extrapolation with the game in hand. Many characters have received tweaks to their Bravery Attacks that have added the ability to stagger or even crush guards. This means that blocking won't allow the same amount of safety that it used to in Dissidia. So get used to alternative tactics and don't count on every block to save you from damage!
Critical Hits - In Duodecim, damage dealt from Critical blows is way down. Normally in Dissidia, a Critical did around five times the normal damage, whereas in Duodecim, the Criticals seem to be dealing about two times the normal damage. This means that EX Bursts themselves, with their inherent all Critical damage, are going to be less threatening (read: game-ending) when used. However, whiffing a block is now even more dangerous, as the opponent will receive 100% Critical hit rate on attacks landed during the cool down of a block.
Wall Rush ("WR") / Floor Rush ("FR") / Ceiling Rush ("CR") - Normally, any character slammed into a wall, ceiling, or floor, would be granted a few frames of invincibility while they peel themselves off the surface. However, in Duodecim, any character slammed into a surface by an Assist is immediately fair game while they are recovering, only having a small window in which to escape. The opposite is also possible, having an Assist combo off of your Wall Rush. It seems as though it is impossible to combo off of your own Wall Rush in this respect, though. The damage dealt by Wall Rush has also been reduced. Normally in Dissidia, a Wall Rush did half the damage of the attack that throws them into the surface, yet, in Duodecim, Wall Rush damage seems to be down to around a quarter (25%) of the initial attack.
Aerial Combat - Combat in the air is no secret in Dissidia, as characters could stay aloft for as long as they wished by simply dodging in midair, which reset the Jump count. In Duodecim, to close the gap between aerial- and ground-based combat, the Jump count can no longer be reset by any means other than planting your character's feet on something. This emphasizes a greater use of Quickmoves and other footholds in battlefields, giving ground-oriented characters the edge they so rightly needed before. It should also be noted that dodging in the air also reduces your Jump count, meaning if you dodge in the air, even before using your second jump, it will not be available to you.
Chase Mode - Often referred to simply as "Chase," the mode has been sped up considerably from Dissidia. Dodging will take some getting used to with the quickened pace, and in general less time will be spent idling in the Chase. The window in which to perform an attack during Chase has also been shortened, with inactivity dropping you out of Chase after only a mere second. New additions to Chase include absorbing the EX Force present on the field when you press X to start/dodge in Chase, which makes it a decent way to fill up in hairy situations. Another is that when dodging during Chase, the character will move slightly backwards, while attacking will have them move back into the space they dodged out of. This means that when exiting Chase due to inaction, the fighters are no longer right in front of one another.
Ground Dash - A new mechanic used for quick mobility is the Ground Dash, performed in the same manner as Air Dash with R+▲, although only applicable when on the ground. Normally, performing any dash sets the character in the air, however Ground Dash leaves the character firmly planted on the ground, so any attacks performed from a Ground Dash will be ground-based. With Ground Dash+ installed, it is possible to control the direction of your character's movement with the analog stick. A Ground Dash is denoted by a kick-up of dust behind the character while moving.

This bug will enable you to have any character equip any piece of equipment without using the CP of the "Gear" abilities. For example, with this method, anyone can equip the full Blood Set without using CP.
To do so you need the following:
- Hero's Spirit/Essence accessories (to boost CP)
- The relevant "Gear" abilities (Thief's Gear, Cavalier's Gear, etc.)
- The equipment you actually want to use on your characters.
- Access to any part of the Labyrinth. Step-by-step guide:
Boost the CP of the character you want to equip via accessories.
Equip the needed "Gear" abilities to use the equipment of your choice. (Don't be afraid to remove abilities to make space for the "Gear" abilities)
Outfit your character as you see fit.
Enter the Labyrinth with a character OTHER than the ones you performed steps 1-3 on.
The game will warn you about resetting the abilities of the CP boosted characters back to their default sets. Ignore this warning and continue to the Labyrinth.
After you enter, choose the "EXIT" card.
Adjust your abilities as you see fit.
After you exit the Labyrinth, the game resets the abilities of the CP boosted characters, but it will NOT reset their equipment. Enjoy your equipment with free CP to use on other abilities.
Faster method by "ujhbn":
NOTE: Removing the equipment means you have to do the entire process again. Is is recommended that you make a separate SET for this if needed.